SO it’s first blood to Nathan Cleverly in the phony war before the real one on November 22.

Not only is Cleverly getting the upper hand in the verbal jousting – though in fairness, Bellew doesn’t seem to want to play and even walked off a recent head-to-head interview on Sky Sports – but Cleverly has also won the battle of the tipsters.

The pair couldn’t agree on the time of day, the sun would be blazing down and if Nathan Cleverly said it was midday, Bellew would swear until he was blue in the face that it was actually 11.15pm and that extends to predictions.

This particular disagreement centred on the battle between Sergey Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins, who fought for the WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight titles in Atlantic City at the weekend.

For Cleverly, who lost decisively to Kovalev in Cardiff, the younger fighter was certain to triumph, while Bellew was equally certain Hopkins would prevail, even if he does turn 50 in January.

“Bernard Hopkins is the best promoter of himself in the world, he picked Kovalev and there is a reason for that,” Bellew told me last month.

Except it was Cleverly 1 Bellew 0 as Kovalev destroyed Hopkins for 36 painfully one-sided minutes. Don’t believe them if they tell you it was the fight where Hopkins showed his incredible skills are on the wane, he still has enviable speed and guile for a fighter of any age.

This was the night that proved Kovalev is the real deal, a proper Ivan Drago who can and will dominate the light heavyweight division in a similar vein to how the Klitschko’s have waylaid all other heavyweights for a decade.

However, I have to confess, on this one, I hoped Bellew was going to be correct.

If you are a fan of boxing, how can you not absolutely adore Bernard Hopkins?

Not only is he one of the best ever, but in terms of longevity, he’s in an elite group indeed that transcends the sport they compete in, up there with the likes of Sir Steve Redgrave for enduring so incredibly and becoming a genuinely iconic sporting figure.

Chances are we’ll still see more of Hopkins, but once he does finally hang them up, we won’t see anyone like him for a long, long time.